Disk drive measuring spiral track error by measuring a slope of a spiral track across a disk radius

ABSTRACT

A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk comprising at least one spiral track, a head, and an actuator operable to actuate the head over the disk. A slope of the spiral track is measured at a plurality of radial locations across the disk, and a spiral track error at each radial location is generated based on a difference between the measured slope and a target slope. The head is actuated over the disk based on the spiral track and the spiral track error.

BACKGROUND

When manufacturing a disk drive, concentric servo sectors 2 ₀-2 _(N) are written to a disk 4 which define a plurality of radially-spaced, concentric servo tracks 6 as shown in the prior art disk format of FIG. 1. A plurality of concentric data tracks are defined relative to the servo tracks 6, wherein the data tracks may have the same or a different radial density (tracks per inch (TPI)) than the servo tracks 6. Each servo sector (e.g., servo sector 2 ₄) comprises a preamble 8 for synchronizing gain control and timing recovery, a sync mark 10 for synchronizing to a data field 12 comprising coarse head positioning information such as a track number, and servo bursts 14 which provide fine head positioning information. The coarse head position information is processed to position a head over a target data track during a seek operation, and the servo bursts 14 are processed to maintain the head over a centerline of the target data track while writing or reading data during a tracking operation.

In the past, external servo writers have been used to write the concentric servo sectors 2 ₀-2 _(N) to the disk surface during manufacturing. External servo writers employ extremely accurate head positioning mechanics, such as a laser interferometer, to ensure the concentric servo sectors 2 ₀-2 _(N) are written at the proper radial location from the outer diameter of the disk to the inner diameter of the disk. However, external servo writers are expensive and require a clean room environment so that a head positioning pin can be inserted into the head disk assembly (HDA) without contaminating the disk. Thus, external servo writers have become an expensive bottleneck in the disk drive manufacturing process.

The prior art has suggested various “self-servo” writing methods wherein the internal electronics of the disk drive are used to write the concentric servo sectors independent of an external servo writer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,679 teaches a disk drive which performs a self-servo writing operation by writing a plurality of spiral servo tracks to the disk which are then processed to write the concentric servo sectors along a circular path. Each spiral servo track is written to the disk as a high frequency signal (with missing bits), wherein the position error signal (PES) for tracking is generated relative to time shifts in the detected location of the spiral servo tracks. The read signal is rectified and low pass filtered to generate a triangular envelope signal representing a spiral servo track crossing, wherein the location of the spiral servo track is detected by detecting a peak in the triangular envelope signal relative to a clock synchronized to the rotation of the disk.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a prior art disk format comprising a plurality of servo tracks defined by embedded servo sectors.

FIG. 2A shows a disk drive according to an embodiment comprising a head actuated over a disk comprising a spiral track.

FIG. 2B is a flow diagram according to an embodiment wherein spiral track error is generated based on a measured slope and a target slope of the spiral track.

FIG. 2C illustrates a spiral track error between a measured slope and a target slope of an ideal spiral track.

FIG. 3A shows an embodiment wherein the spiral track error is measured at a plurality of radial locations across the disk.

FIG. 3B illustrates the spiral track error at a number of radial locations near an outer diameter (OD) of the disk according to an embodiment.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate an embodiment wherein the slope of the spiral track is measured relative to a width of a spiral track crossing.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate an embodiment wherein the disk comprises a plurality of spiral tracks which are processed to write concentric servo sectors to the disk.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate an embodiment wherein a spiral servo track is written to the disk by processing the spiral track.

FIG. 7 shows a servo control system operable to actuate the head over the disk based on the spiral track and the spiral track error according to an embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment wherein the disk comprises a plurality of spiral tracks and an average spiral track error is generated by averaging the spiral track error generated for each spiral track.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 2A shows a disk drive according to an embodiment comprising a disk 16 comprising at least one spiral track 18 ₀, a head 20, and an actuator 22 operable to actuate the head 20 over the disk 16. The disk drive further comprises control circuitry 24 operable to execute the flow diagram of FIG. 2B, wherein a slope of the spiral track is measured at a plurality of radial locations across the disk (block 26), and a spiral track error at each radial location is generated based on a difference between the measured slope and a target slope (block 28). The head is actuated over the disk based on the spiral track and the spiral track error (block 30).

In one embodiment, the control circuitry 24 processes a read signal 32 emanating from the head 20 to measure the slope of the spiral track 18 _(o) in order to generate the spiral track error. The control circuitry 24 then generates a control signal 34 based on the spiral track 18 _(o) and the spiral track error, wherein the control signal 34 is applied to the actuator 22 in order to rotate an actuator arm 36 about a pivot to thereby actuate the head 20 radially over the disk 16. FIG. 2C illustrates a trajectory of the spiral track 18 ₀ written on the disk 16 relative to an ideal spiral track 38. The trajectory of the ideal spiral track 38 changes at a constant slope over time as the disk 16 rotates at a constant speed, whereas the trajectory of the spiral track 18 ₀ changes with a varying slope due to errors when writing the spiral track 18 ₀. Accordingly, in one embodiment a spiral track error is generated based on a difference between a measured slope of the spiral track 18 ₀ and a target slope of the ideal spiral track 38, and then the spiral track error is compensated when servoing the head 20 over the disk 16 based on the spiral track 18 ₀.

FIG. 3A illustrates an embodiment wherein the spiral track error is generated at a plurality of different radial locations across the disk 16 from an outer diameter (OD) to an inner diameter (ID). In one embodiment, when measuring a radial position of the head 20 based on the written spiral track 18 ₀, the measured position is adjusted by the spiral track error (position error) so that the adjusted position corresponds to the radial location of the ideal spiral track 38.

The spiral track error may be generated in any suitable manner, wherein one embodiment is described in view of FIG. 3B which shows a magnified view of the written spiral track 18 ₀ relative to the ideal spiral track 38 near the OD of the disk 16. The head is first positioned at radial location R₀ based on the written spiral track 18 ₀. That is, the written spiral track 18 ₀ is read to generate a radial position measurement, and the head is servoed radially over the disk 16 until the measured position corresponds to R₀. If the slope of the written spiral track 18 ₀ matched the slope of the ideal spiral track 38, then the measured R₀ would correspond to the target radial location tR₀. However, because the slope of the written spiral track 18 ₀ is steeper than the slope of the ideal spiral track 38, the measured radial location corresponding to R₀ will differ from the target radial location tR₀ based on the ideal spiral track 38 by a position error ΔR₀. In one embodiment, this initial position error ΔR₀ may be estimated according to:

${\Delta\; R_{0}} = {r - {r \cdot \frac{s_{0}}{s_{t}}}}$ where r represents a radial increment between the OD and the first radial location corresponding to tR₀, s₀ represents the measured slope of the spiral track 18 ₀ at R₀, and s_(t) represents the target slope (corresponding to the ideal spiral track 38). The head is then servoed over the disk 16 based on the written spiral track 18 ₀ until the measured position corresponds to R₁. Due to the error in the slope of the written spiral track 18 ₀, the resulting position error ΔR₁ may be estimated according to:

${{\hat{R}}_{1} = {{\hat{R}}_{0} + {r \cdot \frac{\left( {s_{1} + s_{0}} \right)/2}{s_{t}}}}};$ Δ R₁ = (2 ⋅ r) − R̂₁ where {circumflex over (R)}₀=tr₀−ΔR₀. In general, the position error AR; at each incremental radial location tR_(i) may be estimated based on:

${{\hat{R}}_{i} = {{\hat{R}}_{i - 1} + {r \cdot \frac{\left( {s_{i} + s_{i - 1}} \right)/2}{s_{t}}}}};$ Δ R_(i) = ((i + 1) ⋅ r) − R̂_(i); i = 1, 2, …  , N − 2 FIG. 3B illustrates how the position error ΔR_(i) changes in magnitude as the slope of the written spiral track 18 ₀ changes, and in the example shown the polarity of the position error ΔR₈ changes sign at R₈ due to the slope of the written spiral track 18 ₀ being less than the slope of the ideal spiral track 38.

The slope of the written spiral track 18 ₀ may be measured at each radial location R_(i) in FIG. 3B using in any suitable technique. FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate an embodiment wherein a width of the written spiral track 18 ₀ varies proportionally with the slope. In one embodiment, the width of the written spiral track 18 ₀ may be measured by evaluating the read signal that is generated as the head crosses over the written spiral track 18 ₀ at a constant velocity. For example, the read signal may be integrated and the width of the written spiral track 18 ₀ estimated based on the width of the resulting ramp signal. FIG. 4B illustrate how the width of the spiral track crossing signal decreases as the slope of the written spiral track 18 ₀ increases as compared to the spiral track crossing shown in FIG. 4A.

The written spiral track 18 ₀ shown in FIG. 2A may be used to servo the head 20 over the disk 16 during any suitable operation of the disk drive. In one embodiment, the written spiral track 18 ₀ may represent a product servo track used to servo the head 20 over the disk 16 during normal write/read operations. In one embodiment, there may be a number of spiral servo tracks 18 ₀-18 _(N) written to the disk 16 and processed to servo the head 20 during normal write/read operations. As described below with reference to FIG. 7, in one embodiment the measured radial position of the head 20 when servoing on the spiral servo tracks 18 ₀-18 _(N) may be adjusted by the corresponding position error ΔR described above so that the head 20 is servoed over the disk 16 based on ideal spiral servo tracks.

In another embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 5A and 5B, a number of spiral tracks 18 ₀-18 _(N) may be written on the disk 16 and then processed to write concentric servo sectors 40 ₀-40 _(N) on the disk 16, wherein the concentric servo sectors 40 ₀-40 _(N) are used to servo the head 20 over the disk 16 during normal write/read operations. In the example embodiment shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, each spiral track 18 _(i) is written over a partial disk revolution, whereas in other embodiments each spiral track 18 _(i) may be written over multiple disk revolutions as shown in FIG. 2A.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate another embodiment wherein the spiral track 18 _(o) may be used as a bootstrap spiral track used to write one or more spiral servo tracks 44 ₀. In one embodiment, the bootstrap spiral track 18 ₀ may be written while moving the head 20 from the ID of the disk 16 toward the OD until the head 20 contacts a ramp 42. In one embodiment, a number of bootstrap spiral tracks may be written on the disk by starting the writing at the ID at a different circumferential position (different rotation angle). FIG. 6B shows an embodiment wherein a spiral servo track 44 ₀ is written to the disk 16 while servoing the head from the OD toward the ID of the disk 16. When the head 20 crosses over the bootstrap spiral track 18 ₀, a radial position is measured and used to adjust the servoing of the head 20. When the radial position is measured, it is adjusted by the position error AR as described above so that the spiral servo track 44 ₀ is written based on an ideal bootstrap spiral track. In one embodiment, a number of spiral servo tracks 44 ₀-44 _(N) are written to the disk 16 which may be used as final servo tracks, or used to write concentric servo sectors as described above with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B.

FIG. 7 shows a servo control system implemented within the control circuitry 24 of FIG. 2A, wherein the read signal 32 emanating from the head 20 is processed at block 46 when crossing the spiral track 18 ₀ to generate a measured position 48. The measured position 48 is adjusted at adder 50 by the corresponding position error AR generated at block 52 as described above to generate an adjusted position 54 that corresponds to the ideal spiral track 38. A state error generator 56 processes the adjusted position 54 and a reference position 58 to generate an error signal 60 (e.g., a position error signal (PES)). The error signal 60 is processed by a servo compensator 62 to generate a digital control signal 64 that is converted by a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 66 into an analog control signal 34 applied to the VCM 22 in order to actuate the head 20 over the disk 16 so as to reduce the error signal 60. The servo control system of FIG. 7 may be used during normal write/read operations, or when writing concentric servo sectors to the disk as shown in FIG. 5B, or when writing spiral servo tracks to the disk as shown in FIG. 6B, or during any other suitable operation wherein the head 20 is servoed over the disk 16 based on a spiral track.

In one embodiment, the block 52 of FIG. 7 may generate an interpolated position error ΔR for adjusting the measured position 48. For example, when the measured position 48 indicates the head 20 is between radial location R₀ and R₁ in FIG. 3B, block 52 may generate the corresponding position error ΔR by interpolating between position error ΔR₀ and position error ΔR₁. In other words, in one embodiment the control circuitry 24 may interpolate the spiral track error (e.g., position error) in order to increase the resolution of the spiral track error.

The target slope of the ideal spiral track 38 shown in FIG. 3A may be generated in any suitable manner. In one embodiment, the target slope is predetermined based on a known ideal spiral track that should be written to the disk. In another embodiment, the control circuitry 24 may generate the target slope by averaging the measured slopes of the spiral track 18 ₀ at the plurality of radial locations shown in FIG. 3B. For example, in one embodiment the control circuitry 24 may measure and save the slope of the spiral track 18 ₀ at the different radial locations shown in FIG. 3B. The saved slope measurements may then be processed to generate the target slope (e.g., as the average), as well as to generate the spiral track errors (e.g., position errors) for each radial location.

In one embodiment, there may be a number of spiral tracks 18 ₀-18 _(N) written to the disk 16 as illustrated in FIG. 8. The control circuitry 24 may generate the target slope and/or the spiral track errors for each individual spiral track, or in another embodiment, the control circuitry 24 may average the measurements to generate a target slope and/or spiral track errors used to process all of the spiral tracks 18 ₀-18 _(N). For example, in one embodiment the control circuitry 24 may average the spiral track errors (e.g., position errors) generated for each spiral track 18 _(i) at each radial location R_(i) to generate a spiral track error that is applied to all of the spiral tracks (e.g., at block 52 of FIG. 7). In another embodiment, the control circuitry 24 may generate an independent spiral track error for each spiral track 18 _(i) which is then generated at block 52 of FIG. 7, for example, using a lookup table indexed by the spiral track number.

The spiral track 18 ₀ may comprise any suitable format, wherein in one embodiment, the spiral track 18 ₀ is written as a high frequency signal interrupted periodically by a sync mark. When the head 20 moves radially over the disk 16, an eye pattern generated by reading the spiral track 18 ₀ will shift (left or right) while the sync marks remain fixed (ideally). The shift in the eye pattern (detected from the high frequency signal) relative to the sync marks provides the position information for servoing the head 20.

Any suitable control circuitry may be employed to implement the flow diagrams in the above embodiments, such as any suitable integrated circuit or circuits. For example, the control circuitry may be implemented within a read channel integrated circuit, or in a component separate from the read channel, such as a disk controller, or certain operations described above may be performed by a read channel and others by a disk controller. In one embodiment, the read channel and disk controller are implemented as separate integrated circuits, and in an alternative embodiment they are fabricated into a single integrated circuit or system on a chip (SOC). In addition, the control circuitry may include a suitable preamp circuit implemented as a separate integrated circuit, integrated into the read channel or disk controller circuit, or integrated into a SOC.

In one embodiment, the control circuitry comprises a microprocessor executing instructions, the instructions being operable to cause the microprocessor to perform the flow diagrams described herein. The instructions may be stored in any computer-readable medium. In one embodiment, they may be stored on a non-volatile semiconductor memory external to the microprocessor, or integrated with the microprocessor in a SOC. In another embodiment, the instructions are stored on the disk and read into a volatile semiconductor memory when the disk drive is powered on. In yet another embodiment, the control circuitry comprises suitable logic circuitry, such as state machine circuitry.

The various features and processes described above may be used independently of one another, or may be combined in various ways. All possible combinations and subcombinations are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. In addition, certain method, event or process blocks may be omitted in some implementations. The methods and processes described herein are also not limited to any particular sequence, and the blocks or states relating thereto can be performed in other sequences that are appropriate. For example, described tasks or events may be performed in an order other than that specifically disclosed, or multiple may be combined in a single block or state. The example tasks or events may be performed in serial, in parallel, or in some other manner. Tasks or events may be added to or removed from the disclosed example embodiments. The example systems and components described herein may be configured differently than described. For example, elements may be added to, removed from, or rearranged compared to the disclosed example embodiments.

While certain example embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions disclosed herein. Thus, nothing in the foregoing description is intended to imply that any particular feature, characteristic, step, module, or block is necessary or indispensable. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions disclosed herein. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A disk drive comprising: a disk comprising at least a first spiral track and a second spiral track; a head; an actuator operable to actuate the head over the disk; and control circuitry operable to: measure a slope of the first spiral track at a plurality of radial locations across the disk; generate a first spiral track error at each radial location based on a difference between the measured slope of the first spiral track and a target slope; measure a slope of the second spiral track at a plurality of radial locations across the disk; generate a second spiral track error at each radial location based on a difference between the measured slope of the second spiral track and the target slope; and actuate the head over the disk based on the spiral track and the first and second spiral track errors.
 2. The disk drive as recited in claim 1, wherein the spiral track error represents a position error between the spiral track and a nominal spiral track.
 3. The disk drive as recited in claim 2, wherein the position error is generated based on: ${{\hat{R}}_{i} = {{\hat{R}}_{i - 1} + {r \cdot \frac{\left( {s_{i} + s_{i - 1}} \right)/2}{s_{t}}}}};$ Δ R_(i) = ((i + 1) ⋅ r) − R̂_(i); i = 1, 2, …  , N − 2 where: r represents a radial increment between each radial location; s_(i) represents the measured slope of the spiral track at radial location i; s_(t) represents the target slope; {circumflex over (R)} represents a measured radial position of the head; ΔR represents the position error; and N represents the plurality of radial locations.
 4. The disk drive as recited in claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is further operable to interpolate the spiral track error to increase a resolution of the spiral track error.
 5. The disk drive as recited in claim 2, wherein the control circuitry is further operable to actuate the head over the disk by: measuring a radial position of the head based on the spiral track; adjusting the measured radial position based on the position error to generate an adjusted radial position; and generating a control signal applied to the actuator based on the adjusted radial position.
 6. The disk drive as recited in claim 5, wherein the control circuitry is further operable to write servo data to the disk while actuating the head over the disk such that the servo data is written based on the target slope of the spiral track.
 7. The disk drive as recited in claim 6, wherein the servo data comprises servo sectors of concentric servo tracks.
 8. The disk drive as recited in claim 7, wherein the servo data comprises a spiral servo track.
 9. The disk drive as recited in claim 8, wherein the control circuitry is further operable to process the spiral servo track in order to write concentric servo sectors to the disk that define concentric servo tracks.
 10. The disk drive as recited in claim 1, wherein the target slope is predetermined.
 11. The disk drive as recited in claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is further operable to generate the target slope based on the measured slopes of the first and second spiral track.
 12. A method of operating a disk drive comprising a disk comprising at least a first spiral track and a second spiral track, a head, and an actuator operable to actuate the head over the disk, the method comprising: measuring a slope of the first spiral track at a plurality of radial locations across the disk; generating a first spiral track error at each radial location based on a difference between the measured slope of the first spiral track and a target slope; measuring a slope of the second spiral track at a plurality of radial locations across the disk; generating a second spiral track error at each radial location based on a difference between the measured slope of the second spiral track and the target slope; and actuating the head over the disk based on the spiral track and the first and second spiral track errors.
 13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the spiral track error represents a position error between the spiral track and a nominal spiral track.
 14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the position error is generated based on: ${{\hat{R}}_{i} = {{\hat{R}}_{i - 1} + {r \cdot \frac{\left( {s_{i} + s_{i - 1}} \right)/2}{s_{t}}}}};$ Δ R_(i) = ((i + 1) ⋅ r) − R̂_(i); i = 1, 2, …  , N − 2 where: r represents a radial increment between each radial location; s_(i) represents the measured slope of the spiral track at radial location i; s_(t) represents the target slope; {circumflex over (R)} represents a measured radial position of the head; ΔR represents the position error; and N represents the plurality of radial locations.
 15. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising interpolating the spiral track error to increase a resolution of the spiral track error.
 16. The method as recited in claim 13, further comprising actuating the head over the disk by: measuring a radial position of the head based on the spiral track; adjusting the measured radial position based on the position error to generate an adjusted radial position; and generating a control signal applied to the actuator based on the adjusted radial position.
 17. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising writing servo data to the disk while actuating the head over the disk such that the servo data is written based on the target slope of the spiral track.
 18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the servo data comprises servo sectors of concentric servo tracks.
 19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the servo data comprises a spiral servo track.
 20. The method as recited in claim 19, further comprising processing the spiral servo track in order to write concentric servo sectors to the disk that define concentric servo tracks.
 21. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the target slope is predetermined.
 22. The method as recited in claim 13, further comprising generating the target slope based on the measured slopes of the first and second spiral track. 